Beutels, P & Viney, RC 2004, 'Comments on the Prosser et al approach to value disease reduction in children', PEDIATRICS, vol. 114, no. 5, pp. 1375-1375.
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Chern, B, Joseph, D, Joshua, D, Pittman, K, Richardson, G, Schou, M, Lowe, S, Copeman, M, De Abreu Lourenco, R & Lynch, K 2004, 'Bisphosphonate infusions: patient preference, safety and clinic use', SUPPORTIVE CARE IN CANCER, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 463-466.
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Goodall, S, Chalder, M & Salisbury, C 2004, 'Bureaucracy of Research Governance - Response to Ward DS 'Bureaucracy of ethics applications'', British Medical Journal, vol. 329, no. 7460, pp. 282-284.
Haas, M 2004, 'Health services research in Australia: an investigation of its current status', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, vol. 9, no. 2_suppl, pp. 3-9.
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Objectives The objectives of this audit were to document the current status of health services research (HSR) in Australia in terms of inputs and outputs. Inputs were defined as the number of organised centres or groups undertaking HSR, the extent to which HSR was being developed and the funding available for HSR. Outputs were measured as the number of peer-reviewed papers. Methods Centres or groups were identified via the membership of the HSRAANZ and a web-based search. Information from annual reports and/or other published sources was used to determine the extent of capacity building and available funding. The tables of contents of 21 journals published over a 10-year period were searched for articles reporting Australian HSR. Results Eighteen groups were identified that undertook HSR as their predominant activity, while twelve were involved in HSR as a collaborative activity. No HSR-specific training (in terms of under- or postgraduate degrees) was identified, although more than 400 postgraduate students were being supervised in the university departments where HSR groups were situated. Between 1998 and 2001, more than AU$13 million was awarded for HSR, most of it by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Over the past 10 years, 482 articles about Australian health services have been published in the peer-reviewed journals audited. Conclusions Although HSR is widespread in Australia, no specific training appears to be available to build capacity. Overall, HSR is not well-funded especially by organisations outside the NHMRC or Australian Research Council. Thus, it is not surprising that the output of Australian HSR, in terms of peer-reviewed articles, is slight.
Hall, J, Viney, R, Haas, M & Louviere, J 2004, 'Using stated preference discrete choice modeling to evaluate health care programs', JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 1026-1032.
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Hall, JP 2004, 'Election 2004 Paying for Health Care', Australian Review of Public Affairs, vol. -, pp. 1-6.
Jones, G, Savage, E & Hall, J 2004, 'Pricing of general practice in Australia: some recent proposals to reform Medicare', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, vol. 9, no. 2_suppl, pp. 63-68.
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In the Australian Medicare system, general practitioners (GPs) are paid on a fee-for-service basis. A practitioner can choose to bill the government directly (termed bulk billing) and receive 85% of a regulated fee as full payment. Bulk billed consultations are free to the patient. However, GPs are free to charge above the regulated fee. The patient can then claim a rebate from the government but only the equivalent of 85% of the regulated Medicare fee. Such co-payments for GP consultations cannot be covered by private health insurance. In the ten years following the introduction of Medicare in 1984, the bulk billing rate for GP consultations steadily increased to 84%. Since then the rate has fallen to below 68%. In April 2003 the Minister for Health announced a reform package under the title A Fairer Medicare which aimed, among other things, to increase the availability of bulk billing for some patients. A key feature of the proposal involved changes to the way that GPs are reimbursed. Following political opposition that would have prevented it passing both houses of the federal parliament, a revised version, MedicarePlus, was released in November 2003. This paper describes the factors influencing a GP's choice to bulk bill and examines the two proposals, in this context.
Shanahan, M, Lancsar, E, Haas, M, Lind, B, Weatherburn, D & Chen, S 2004, 'Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the New South Wales Adult Drug Court Program', Evaluation Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 3-27.
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In New South Wales, Australia, a cost-effectiveness evaluation was conducted of an adult drug court (ADC) program as an alternative to jail for criminal offenders addicted to illicit drugs. This article describes the program, the cost-effectiveness analysis, and the results. The results of this study reveal that, for the 23-month period of the evaluation, the ADC was as cost-effective as were conventional sanctions in delaying the time to the first offense and more cost-effective in reducing the frequency of offending for those outcome measures selected. Although the evaluation was conducted using the traditional steps of a cost-effectiveness analysis, because of the complexity of the program and data limitations it was not always possible to adhere to textbook procedures. As such, each step involved in undertaking the cost-effectiveness analysis is discussed, highlighting the key issues faced in the evaluation.
Street, D 2004, 'Optimal and near-optimal pairs for the estimation of effects in 2-level choice experiments', Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, vol. 118, no. 1-2, pp. 185-199.
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This paper gives constructions for optimal and near-optimal sets of pairs for the estimation of main effects, and for the estimation of main effects and two factor interactions, in forced choice experiments in which all attributes have two levels. The number of pairs in the sets is much smaller than that in previously constructed optimal 2-level choice experiments. © 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Street, DJ & Burgess, L 2004, 'Optimal stated preference choice experiments when all choice sets contain a specific option', Statistical Methodology, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 37-45.
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Stated preference choice experiments are routinely used in many areas from marketing to medicine. While results on the optimal choice sets to present for the forced choice setting have been determined in a variety of situations, no results have appeared to date on the optimal choice sets to use when either all choice sets are to contain a common base alternative or when all choice sets contain a 'none of these' option. These problems are considered in this paper. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Viney, RC, Boyer, MJ, King, MT, Kenny, PM, Pollicino, CA, McLean, JM, McCaughan, BC & Fulham, MJ 2004, 'Randomized Controlled Trial of the Role of Positron Emission Tomography in the Management of Stage I and II Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer', Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 2357-2362.
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Purpose Positron emission tomography (PET) is a costly new technology with potential to improve preoperative evaluation for patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There is increasing pressure for PET to be included in standard diagnostic work-up before decisions about surgical management of NSCLC. The resource implications of its widespread use in staging NSCLC are significant. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted to investigate the impact of PET on clinical management and surgical outcomes for patients with stage I-II NSCLC. The primary hypothesis was that PET would reduce the proportion of patients with stage I-II NSCLC who underwent thoracotomy by at least 10% through identification of patients with inoperable disease. Results One hundred eighty-four patients with stage I-II NSCLC were recruited and randomly assigned; 92% had stage I disease. Following exclusion of one ineligible patient, 92 patients were assigned to no PET and 91 to PET. Compared with conventional staging, PET upstaged 22 patients, confirmed staging in 61 and staged two patients as benign. Stage IV disease was rarely detected (two patients). PET led to further investigation or a change in clinical management in 13% of patients and provided information that could have affected management in a further 13% of patients. There was no significant difference between the trial arms in the number of thoracotomies avoided (P = .2). Conclusion For patients who are carefully and appropriately staged as having stage I-II disease, PET provides potential for more appropriate stage-specific therapy but may not lead to a significant reduction in the number of thoracotomies avoided.
Viney, RC, Boyer, MJ, King, MT, Kenny, PM, Pollicino, CA, McLean, JM, McCaughan, BC & Fulham, MJ 2004, 'Randomized controlled trial of the role of positron emission tomography in the management of stage I and II non-small-cell lung cancer', JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 2357-2362.
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Viney, RC, King, MT, Savage, EJ & Hall, JP 2004, 'Can we reduce disease burden form Osteoarthritis.', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 181, no. 6, pp. 338-338.
Viney, RC, King, MT, Savage, EJ & Hall, JP 2004, 'Use of the TTU is questionable', MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA, vol. 181, no. 6, pp. 338-+.
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Viney, RC, King, MT, Savage, EJ & Hall, JP 2004, 'Use of 'transfer to utility' (TTU) is questionable', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 181, no. 6, pp. 338-338.
Viney, RC, King, MT, Savage, EJ, Hall, JP, Segal, L, Osborne, RH & Day, SE 2004, 'Use of the TTU is questionable (multiple letters) [1]', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 181, no. 6, pp. 338-339.
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Hall, JP, King, MT, Fiebig, DG, Hossain, I & Louviere, JJ 1970, 'UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND MEASURING UTILITY FOR GENETIC SCREENING', QUALITY OF LIFE RESEARCH, 11th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research, SPRINGER, Hong Kong, pp. 1569-1569.
Jones, G, Savage, E & Hall, J 1970, 'Pricing of general practice in Australia: some recent proposals to reform Medicare.', J Health Serv Res Policy, England, pp. 63-68.
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View description>>
In the Australian Medicare system, general practitioners (GPs) are paid on a fee-for-service basis. A practitioner can choose to bill the government directly (termed bulk billing) and receive 85% of a regulated fee as full payment. Bulk billed consultations are free to the patient. However, GPs are free to charge above the regulated fee. The patient can then claim a rebate from the government but only the equivalent of 85% of the regulated Medicare fee. Such copayments for GP consultations cannot be covered by private health insurance. In the ten years following the introduction of Medicare in 1984, the bulk billing rate for GP consultations steadily increased to 84%. Since then the rate has fallen to below 68%. In April 2003 the Minister for Health announced a reform package under the title A Fairer Medicare which aimed, among other things, to increase the availability of bulk billing for some patients. A key feature of the proposal involved changes to the way that GPs are reimbursed. Following political opposition that would have prevented it passing both houses of the federal parliament, a revised version, MedicarePlus, was released in November 2003. This paper describes the factors influencing a GP's choice to bulk bill and examines the two proposals, in this context.
Kenny, PM, King, MT, Viney, RC, Boyer, M, Pollicino, C, McLean, J, McCaughan, BC & Fulham, MJ 1970, 'Quality of life in the two years after surgery for non-small cell lung cancer', Quality of Life Research 2004; 13(9)., 11th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research, Springer, Hong Kong, pp. 1594-1594.
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Purpose Although surgery for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer ( NSCLC) is known to have a substantial impact on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), there are few published studies about HRQOL in the longer term. This article examines HRQOL and survival in the 2 years after surgery. Patients and Methods Patients with clinical stage I or II NSCLC (n = 173) completed HRQOL questionnaires before surgery, at discharge, 1 month after surgery, and then every 4 months for 2 years. HRQOL was measured with a generic cancer questionnaire (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire [ EORTC-QLQ] C30) and a lung cancer-specific questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-LC13). Data were analyzed to examine the impact of surgery and any subsequent therapy, and to describe the trajectories of those who remained disease free at 2 years and those with recurrent cancer diagnosed during follow-up. Results Disease recurred within 2 years for 36% of patients and 2-year survival was 65%. Surgery substantially reduced HRQOL across all dimensions except emotional functioning. HRQOL improved in the 2 years after surgery for patients without disease recurrence, although approximately half continued to experience symptoms and functional limitations. For those with recurrence within 2 years, there was some early postoperative recovery in HRQOL, with subsequent deterioration across most dimensions.
Kenny, PM, King, MT, Viney, RC, Boyer, MJ, Pollicino, C, Fulham, MJ, McLean, J & McCaughan, BC 1970, 'QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE TWO YEARS AFTER SURGERY FOR NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER', QUALITY OF LIFE RESEARCH, 10th Annual National Health Outcomes Conference, SPRINGER, Canberra, pp. 1594-1594.
